Posts Tagged ‘Arkansas Bed and Breakfast’

Starting on September 24th and lasting through the 28th, the ACANSA Arts Festival will feature 26 visual and performing works by both established and emerging artists in diverse venues throughout Little Rock and North Little Rock. Enjoy both sides of the Arkansas River during the five days of “Southern Celebration of the Arts” with exhibits, workshops and performances by Arkansas artists as well as exciting opportunities to experience performances by world renowned artists.
The name ACANSA comes from the native Quapaw tribe, that was often referred to as the “people of the southern place” or “Acansa” in the Siouan tongue. The arts festival has adopted this name to honour their commitment to celebrating the uniquely rich cultural vitality of the region, one that has helped make this area part of the “New South” culture, one that is vibrant, cosmopolitan and filled with charm, hospitality and natural beauty.
We hope that arts and culture lovers who come to enjoy the festival will also enjoy the architectural wonder that can be found throughout Little Rock’s Quapaw Quarter, and especially in the historic Hornibrook Mansion, also known as The Empress of Little Rock. Come stay with us and enjoy arts and culture during the day and a cultural landmark at night!

As a continuation of last week’s “Free at a B&B” post, we thought you might like to see Better Way to Stay’s video “The Hotel Package”. What is Better Way to Stay? I think their own words (from their website) say it best:

“The Better Way To Stay, is a grassroots campaign to help travelers discover today’s inns and B&B experience. Brought to you by the Professional Association of Innkeepers International and hundreds of B&B associations, directories, vendors and innkeepers, the Better Way To Stay campaign seeks to bust myths and build confidence in the B&B brand. While hotels and motels are one option, inns and B&Bs add amenities like complimentary breakfasts, free parking, afternoon or evening refreshments, free wi-fi adding up to $150 per two-night stay in extra value. Add a smile at check in and an innkeeper who remembers your name at the end of a long day, and the list of B&B bonuses becomes priceless.”

Pretty neat stuff, that aligns perfectly with the mission of The Empress and other bed and breakfasts. So enjoy this fun and funny video and then book your room with The Empress to get the “bed and breakfast package” where it began!

Little Rock is an amazing city with several amazing hotels…BUT, what those amazing hotels don’t offer is a wide range of amenities that come FREE with every stay at The Empress of Little Rock. What? You didn’t know that B&Bs offered special services that you don’t see in hotels? What are these services?

How about a concierge? Instead of relying on a guidebook, let our innkeeper give you the insider’s scoop on all of the best that the area has to offer. Maybe a gourmet breakfast appeals to you? The Empress is known for her amazing 2 course candle-lit breakfasts in our grand dining room. Afternoon or late night snacks while you are kicked back watching tv? Don’t pay for chips in a vending machine, at The Empress we offer ice cold water and juice, biscotti, trail mix and crackers to all of our guests for FREE. Tired of paying $6 per glass for wine at the hotel bar? The Empress offers a wine hour every evening and will serve you a glass at no charge!

There are many other things that you can get for free at a bed and breakfast, such as parking, wi-fi and even new friends! We invite you to get out of the hotel rut and try a bed and breakfast today…you won’t be sorry! To book a room at The Empress, call us now at 501-374-7966…or check out all of our unique rooms here.

Autumn is my favorite time of year for weddings at The Empress. The flowers are blooming, the grass is green (and not dead from the heat of summer), the breezes are cool and the evenings still long. Our Secret Garden is a beautiful, awe-inspiring spot for an outdoor wedding. A walled garden with a beautiful gazebo (with a gorgeous stained-glass window), a grotto with trickling water sounds, all white flowers and a green lawn. Then enjoy your reception in our Victorian mansion or tented outdoors off of our conference center. The choice is yours, but the hassle is ours. An all-inclusive package lets you pass the work to us. Bring your groom and your dress, and let the Empress do the rest!

Here are some wonderful pictures of weddings here at The Empress. There are SO MANY MORE! on our Facebook page that you can browse for inspiration. We love all of the brides we have hosted here, and hope to meet many, many more! Learn more about our wedding packages here!

The Blair’s granddaughter Jena has spent the summer busily working at The Empress. She has been a huge help, doing everything from answering phones and taking reservations to cleaning rooms and checking in guests. Another great thing she brings to the table is the optimism and ingenuity of youth. A great example of this young, fun attitude is a recent birthday celebration we had for Shana, Sharon’s executive assistant. A birthday of a staff member is always celebrated with a card and a cake (or sometimes cupcakes!) and it fell on Jena to order the cake and buy the card for this particular celebration. The cake was ordered in plenty of time (and, being from Community Bakery, was absolutely DELICIOUS) but the card was forgotten until the last minute. Instead of a last minute dollar store run or a quick search for appropriate clip art, (solutions we old people would embrace) Jena wasted no time in breaking out her youthful creativity and art skills and quickly created a card using nothing but paper, pens, sharpies and a lot of imagination. Shana pronounced it the best card to ever be presented at The Empress (and the cupcake wasn’t all that bad either!).

Want to know where your bourbon comes from? How about your Gin? Just want to know how a distillery functions? Well Little Rock’s Rock Town Distillery is the place to learn all about what you pour over rocks…or do you take your shaken? Located in downtown Little Rock, this artisan craft distillery welcomes visitors to learn more about their products during a tour and taste. Enjoy the lively tour, which introduces you to the “grass to grain” approach of using local grains, and then take the opportunity to taste Rock Town’s spirits. What kind of spirits? How about Brandon’s Vodka and Gin, Young Bourbon (this one won Best American Bourbon in London’s World Whiskies awards!), Hickory Smoked Whisky, Riverboat Rum, Arkansas Lightning and Apple Pie Lightning. After your taste and tour, get a cab (or a sober friend) to take you back to The Empress. We are sure Mr. Hornibrook (the house’s original owner, who also happened to be a successful saloon owner) would appreciate your choice of activities.
The tasting room is open Wednesday through Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Forty-five minute tours are 4 p.m. during the week and 1:30 and 3 p.m. on weekends. Tours explain the process of making spirits, from selecting the grain to filling the bottles. Tastings are restricted to ages 21 plus. $7/adult. RockTownDistillery.com.

Want a unique and fun-filled dining experience while staying at the Empress? How about an opportunity to explore the world, while leaving your passport at home? Forty Two, the restaurant at the Clinton Presidential Center, offers this opportunity at its Around the World dining event. Every third Thursday of the month, they invite guests to explore the sights, sounds and flavors of countries across the globe. A different country is featured every month, giving diners the chance to have their taste buds take a tour from Italy to India, without having to leave Little Rock.

A five-course tasting menu provided, with a bargain price of only $27.95, giving visitors the unique chance to sample distinctive flavors from around the world while enjoying a beautiful waterfront Arkansas setting. Enjoy the culture of Melbourne, Australia on July 17th, and then come back for Jeonju, South Korea on August 21st!

Reservations are required, as this event is extremely popular and seating is limited. See more at Forty-Two’s website. Or you can call them at 501-537-0042 to make your reservation.

I’m guessing you’ve already figured out foods are going up in cost rapidly. What a challenge it has been to continue to provide a rich and varied menu that makes a meal special and stay within a budget. In the last couple of years, we’ve been looking at ways we can improve the experience while cutting the costs, from food to cleaning. With nine guest rooms, it doesn’t take long to add up. So here’s a couple of things we’ve come up with that we feel good about that might work for you also.

1-Make you own bread (bread makers make it easy and you know what’s in it) . But mixes are very expensive. We decided that making our own mixes made sense and making 10-12 at a time and putting them in zip lock bags allowed us to buy flour in bulk. We can rinse and reuse the bags, so we don’t add more plastic to the environment. It costs less than $1 a mix making that many at a time, including your time. Our guests love the smell of fresh baked bread wafting thru the house. But they really love the 1″ thick slices of decadent french toast and the cheese strata made with the heels and tops of the loaves.

2-We have our own “Victory Garden” where we raise our own herbs, squash for our golden breakfast pie, cucumbers for our tea sandwiches, figs we use as fresh fruit and we even created a new fig soup for the fall, and now we have our first crop of grapes. We’ve also added a persimmon tree, and we have blackberry canes as well.

Tune in for more “green” ideas and how our experiements have worked out. We’d also love to hear about what unusual thing you’ve done to reduce costs and be “green”

As the seasons are changing we at the Empress are excitedly anticipating the Holiday Season. Our Christmas decorations will go up right after Thanksgiving with decorated trees in every room and our grand rotating Victorian Tree in the parlor. Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church puts on a Christmas Tour of Homes and the Empress is honored to be included in this years itinerary. So, mark your calendars early as we look forward to see you and sharing the Spirit of Christmas!

The fun doesn’t end at Christmas, it’s never too early to make your New Years Eve Reservations. Come toast the New Year with us at our annual New Years Downton Abbey Wine, Dinner & Dance. We will have live music to dance to in the Victorian Fashion, a four-course gourmet meal with wine pairings, and a toast to aud lang syne as the clock strikes twelve. A quick stroll up the stairs as the party winds down will take you to one of our incredibility romantic suites. Seating is limited at this exclusive “Downton Abbey” style event, so make your plans early to reserve yours!.

We love having friends, family, neighbors and guests to entertain, so nothing is better than having them all together! Our 4th of July celebration (which we combined with the Hornibrook Mansion’s 125th birthday celebration) was so much fun! All of our nearest and dearest gathered in our gardens to eat, drink and be merry. Friendships were renewed and new friendships made and potluck dishes were shared by all. We adore this yearly tradition and cannot wait for next year to do it again!